Holiday 2021, Wednesday, 5th of May

 More showers forecast today, apparently the East Coast was having Blizzards so counted ourselves lucky, though it has to be said the weather was changeable to say the least going from 

This

To this

In the blink of an eye!!

Extreme heh!! Although as a bloke in the garage said, if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes!!! Which I think summed things up nicely!! 

Breakfast was very pleasant with a couple of Long-tailed Tits visiting the Willow Warbler bush,but it didn't stop him singing!! 

Long-tailed Tit (through Glass)

Willow Warbler not as cooperative as before but a typical view and I think a nice picture

While Margie was getting ready, I nipped out between showers and checked out what else was lurking on the island!

Heron

Great Northern Diver

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Several boats in the Harbour this was my favourite

Our mountains were looking quite cool with a dusting of snow

We decided with an eye on the weather, that we would drive South today possibly as far as Skye, We set off, first stop ,as the weather was ok was Victoria Falls, whilst they were quite cool, with a refreshingly short walk, I don't think the African ones have much to worry about in terms of competition!!

The view from the top

Loch Maree

Pied Wagtail

The Falls

Margie, she's heard of Health and Safety and wants nothing to do with it!

The top of the Falls

Me being Magnificent

Some relaxing water!

We left the Falls and headed on, as the road rose out of Kinlockewe we hit the Blizzard, discretion being the better part of valour, we immediately did a U-turn and with my catchphrase, whenever I'm in Scotland " it looks brighter over there" we headed to the coast, deciding now would be a good time to visit Redpoint Beach.

The Blizzard rolling in!!

We arrived at Redpoint after about 30 minutes, far less people here today, the wind had picked up and it was looking threatening, Margie decided to stay in the car, I however noticed that the sheep fields were not only caked in birds again, Wheatear, Skylark and Meadow Pipits but they had been joined by some Waders, Dunlin, Whimbrel and best of all some cracking Golden Plover!! So girding my loins, with a "I'm popping out for 10 mins to try for some Plover pics" I exited the car.

The Plover were surprisingly cooperative more interested in chasing each other around, than in an idiot with a camera getting battered by the wind, by moving very slowly and only when they weren't looking, like the kid's game when you try and sneak up on somebody, which Margie reckons is called Mr Wolf but I reckon it was called Statues? I managed to get reasonably close or as close as you can in a wide open sheep field scenario, but pretty proud I didn't spook em once!! Pics are heavily cropped I didn't get that close!!😁

Wheatear

Whimbrel, more distant, the undulating ground and heat haze (WTF) making pics difficult but you can tell what they are

Another Wheatear, Margie thinks I'm obsessed with em!!

Skylark

Golden Plover

Chasing each other down

Meadow Pipit

Stonechat

The weather has improved a bit now so I head back to the car, to find a slightly unhappy Margie, who seems to have forgotten, that in these circumstances "10 Minutes" can mean an hour an a half 😲, a situation compounded by the fact that I left my phone in the car in my haste to get amongst the Plover. However  a combination of my boyish charm, the improvement in the weather and a bit of grovelling soothed the situation and we headed to the beach!! Which was very beautiful, one of the best things about Scotland in the Spring is the deserted beaches which are pretty stunning!!

Once again there were some Great Northern Divers on the sea, but the much higher waves meant pics were difficult, a couple of Gannets were blogging around and I actually managed some pics of a plunge dive Whoop! If you scroll down quick you can re-create the dive!!

Quite happy with that!!

It's got to be said, Standing on a beach in Scotland, with the girl of my dreams, the sun shining, the wind rushing through my hair (figurately of course) the waves crashing on to the sand and Gannets plunging into the sea would have to be up there as my "happy place"!!!

Me hardcore birding!!

Me Glad to be alive!!

We headed back to the Island 

Dry Island with the tide in, our Cabin was on the other side, note the floating bridge

Margie crossing the floating bridge

Me showing her how it's done, look at that agility, like a young Gazelle!!

The seals had dragged themselves up right in front of the window again, they seem to know the most sheltered spot and one of the families of Greylags, was crossing the bay, this lot had three chicks, there was another pair that had 2 larger chicks, it's fair to say they are not keen on Herons or seals!!

Greylag family

That was about it for the day with the wind increasing, a storm predicted for the early hours hopefully the Cabin will be still standing when we wake up!!!😀